WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), a leading conservative and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement today after voting to fully repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.” This is the 37th time the House has voted to repeal Obamacare either in part or entirely.

“Senator Max Baucus, one of the principle architects of Obamacare, recently referred to the law as ‘a huge train wreck.’ Obamacare is not just a huge train wreck; it is a trail of broken promises:

The president promised health care premiums would go down thanks to Obamacare. Instead, the average family’s annual premium has increased $3,000 since 2008, and one national insurer predicts a 96% average increase for new customers in the individual market for 2014;

The president said he “refuse(d) to do anything that undermines the basic idea of Medicare as a guarantee for seniors who get sick.” Instead, because of his health care law, senior enrollment in Medicare Advantage will be cut in half by 2017 and their health care will be rationed by the Independent Payment Advisory Board – one of 159 boards, commissions, and programs that have been created by the law and placed between Americans and their doctors;

Speaker Pelosi boldly promised that Obamacare would create 4 million jobs. Instead, the Congressional Budget Office says that our labor force is going to shrink by almost a million people over the next decade due to the law. Other studies predict that could be higher—almost 3.2 million.

“And this doesn’t even take into account that the Internal Revenue Service, the very same agency which just confessed to using government resources to investigate and harass political opponents of the president, is the very agency the president plans to give the power to oversee Obamacare. If this is what they do with tax applications, what will the IRS do with our personal health records? After all, this is not just a government program. It puts 1/5 of our economy – and more importantly your healthcare – in the hands of IRS bureaucrats.

“Obamacare is not some ugly duckling that one day is going to grow into a beautiful swan. It’s just ugly—and getting uglier by the day.

“Maybe now that Democrats realize the detrimental impact this law will have on the health care of millions of Americans, our economy, and our national debt, they will work with us to improve health care in a way that does not allow the government to undermine the patient-doctor relationship, harm job creation or our economy, or hasten our national bankruptcy.

“I will never stop working to enact common-sense measures to ensure that every American has the opportunity for patient-centered health care that is affordable, portable, and of high quality so that no debilitating illness will be ever be able to wipe out a lifetime of savings.”